I am frantically painting away in my studio trying to meet the deadline for the Naive Festival in Poland.  Normally I can pretty much concentrate on my work but lately life, the universe and everything has gotten in the way.  Oh and I will write a blog and tell you all about that too, not happy Jan!  But today’s art blog is about 2  art exhibitions that I have opening this week in 2 different cities, well countries in the world.

ART EXHIBITION IN DENMARK

The first is in Denmark at a gallery called Galleri Naif and run by Mia Cara who is a Bulgarian naive artist herself,  this exhibition is in Islands Brygge in Copenhagen and runs until the 5^th of May and is called “Spring exhibition”.   Mia also runs a website if you would like to take a look at her own artwork.

ARTISHOP.DK

This exhibition was booked through my lovely friend Eliane Kristensen who I first “met” online through either Facebook or LinkedIn (I cannot remember which).  She started following my artblogs and making comments and we found that we had lots in common.  Eliane is a very interesting person, bubbly and vivacious full of “get up and go”.  She runs her own website called artishop.dk as well, which has art and jewellery and Eliane also writes articles for different publications as well as the internet.  Here is a link to her on Pinterest.

ART MEETING IN PARIS

Last year whilst my husband and I were travelling in Europe Eliane arranged a lovely dinner at a fabulous Parisian restaurant in Butte aux Cailles which is a most interesting part of Paris.  We were joined by my lovely friend Jacques Dubois who is the man responsible for organizing the Art Naif Festival in Katowice, Poland each year.  Elaine and I now refer to Jak as Mr Tornado (LOL with Love and Affection of course) as that is just what he is.  Jak is so full of enthusiasm and fun that he can hardly sit still and is the most stimulating of conversationalists.  Whilst Jak had not felt totally comfortable whilst writing English he had absolutely no trouble in making himself understood whilst talking and if there was a word here or there that we didn’t get, Jak would simply get up and do a  Marcel Marceau  impersonation.  I was therefore not surprised to find out that Jak in an earlier life had been a celebrated actor but these days he is a very astute business man with a great love of art.

So it goes without saying that we had the most wonderful night and dinner was followed by a stroll through this interesting part of Paris till we found a little cafe to have another drink and some coffees before finally saying goodbye.

EUROPEAN ART REPRESENTATIVES

It was really wonderful to meet my European art representatives and now firm friends in real life, just goes to show how the internet connects people and makes things happen.

ART EXHIBITION IN SYDNEY

So now to somewhere closer to home, well we are still talking 1300 kilometers from home in Sydney.  My other exhibition that opened this week was in Sydney at the Callan Park Gallery at Sydney University.  This one is called Naive art of Australia and features several other naive artists as well.

The exhibition has been curated by Nerida Olson who is passionate about art and is the Public Relations and Marketing Manager at Sydney College of the Arts, Division of Architecture and Creative Arts.

CALLAN PARK GALLERY

I was asked to exhibit at their Sydney gallery last year as well but at that time due to time constraint it wasn’t possible.  This show runs until the 2^nd of May, so I hope a lot of you Sydneysiders make your way there and have a look.

In this gloom and doom word, let us Naive artists put a smile on your face and get lost in our little rays of sunshine.

Here is a quote by Howard Ikemoto that I think fits well here which reminds us that we are all artistic – every one of us.

EVERYONE ARE ARTISTIC

“When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked me one day what I did at work.  I told her I worked at the college – that my job was to teach people how to draw.  She stared at me, incredulous, and said, “You mean they forget?”

Till next time,

Love Marie xxxx

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’sPAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale orWALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

All of us sweat the small stuff from time to time but really we shouldn’t, however that’s easier said than done.  So what about making a list of the things that make you happy, the things you either love to do or think about.

I have created such a list here, in no particular order mind you!  I would love to hear what makes you happy too so let me know?

This acrylic on board painting is my family and friends in Bali for my birthday surprise party that hubby had organized, which is certainly an experience that made me very happy!

But you know the things in life that causes the most happiness are mostly things that are free or at least does not cost too much.

MY HAPPINESS LIST

Time spent with my Swedish cousins

Skipping (even if you are over forty and your husband thinks it is unbecoming for a grown woman)

Puppy breath

The smell of horses

The smell of freshly cut grass

The colour and smell of flowers

Watching the sunset

Hugging someone you Love

Dinner and drinks with good friends

Being in Love

The smell of sundried sheets on the bed

A hot shower

A glass of Red Wine

Childhood memories

Fresh Flowers

Sparkling Red

Cuddling with my dogs

Tail wagging when you come home

A cuddle with my 28 year old Galah

Rain on the Roof

Hearing “Mummy I Love You” – at any age

Painting

Creating in any medium

Reading a good book

Walking on the Beach

And Just walking anytime – anywhere

Swedish Daim chocolates

Dutch extra salted liquorice

My Dads phone calls

My mother’s sense of humour

My husband’s cooking and knowing he loves me still after all these years!

Exploring a new city

Train rides

Favourite songs on the radio

Giggling and not being able to stop

Laughing so hard your face hurts

Loving someone and knowing they love you

Knowing somebody misses you

The smell of the ocean

A summer’s breeze

The view from our house

Twittering birds

Green, green grass

All the colours of nature

A favourite quotation

Seeing a good piece of art

Creating a good piece of art

Naive artists – all artists

When my paintings find a “good” home

Being offered a new artistic venture

Remembering my kids as little children

Seeing my children growing up and becoming delightful adults

Memories of my loving Grandparents

Getting a massage

Paying it forward

A gift of handmade biscuits, cakes & Rocky road

First coffee of the day

Breakfast in bed

A shoulder to lean on

Shopping with my daughter

My son tracking our travels & checking we arrive safely

My daughters planned “Mother & Daughter” surprises

A good movie

A night at the theatre

Listening to children giggle

Phone calls from my kids

Family holidays

Having an open fire

The smell of a wood oven

The smell of bread baking

Sleeping with our dogs in the bed!!

Buying a gift for someone you love

Giving a present

A drink in a Bali hut by the pool

Being busy with lots of projects on!

Meeting people who collect my paintings or read my art blogs

A cup of Belgian Hot Chocolate

My son teaching me something new

Dancing ALL night

Swimming on a hot day or night time swims

So now I hope you will go and make your own list too!  Here is a quote I like by Richard Carlson

“Learning to stop sweating the small stuff involves deciding what things to engage in and what things to ignore. From a certain perspective, life can be described as a series of mistakes, one right after another with a little space in between.”

And this one;

“Choose to be kind over being right and you’ll be right everytime.”

So till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxx

Here is another way to make you feel good that have made a huge difference in our lives; 153 The Art of Saturday Night

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

Even during this economic downturn in Europe the members of Fivan, Szyb Gallery and Jacques Dubois particularly, has manage to pull off the impossible – another successful Naive Art Festival in Katowice, Poland.   As this exhibition is continuing into August I sincerely hope that you will try to some and see it.

This painting “Playing hide and seek” was in last year’s festival in Poland and crisscrossed the world as it ended up selling to a Japanese client.

This exhibition whereby artists from 32 countries around the world are chosen to take part is only the 5^th Art Naif Festival held in Poland and the host gallery is again the amazing Szyb Wilson Gallery.  It is the privately owned gallery in Poland and I would think one of the largest if not the largest private gallery in the world at 2500 square meters on two big halls and a balcony.  It is situated 10 minutes away from the city center in the Nikiszowiec district which is a historical settlement of Katowice.

The area where Szyb Wilson Gallery stands was in fact an old coal mine construction, a virtual wasteland.  As Jacques says it is very fitting that the naive festival is held in this place: “to change the image of a dirty and black city into a place where happiness and colors are together to warm the heart.  There’s nothing like naive artists to believe in things like that.  Improve the world, little by little and all together.”

ARTnBED

Last year Cuba was the guest country and this year we celebrate Israel and their wonderful Naive artists, they have a great history of Naive art with a terrific gallery that supports them in Tel Aviv called Gina Gallery of International Naive Art.  It is also from Israel that my latest venture with ARTnBED comes from with art works on duvet and shams (quilt covers and pillowcases) that were recently released both in Israel and USA.

NAIVE ART IN ISRAEL

The philosophy of Dan Chill the owner of Gina Gallery is as follows “GINA Gallery seeks to support the naïve artists‘ quest for “Paradise Lost;” to encourage them to share their timeless vision of everyday life; and to provide them with a forum to bare the child-like ruminations of their hearts and souls. In parallel, GINA Gallery hopes to facilitate the entry into this field of talented, mostly self-taught artists (young and old) who strive to relate – by means of brush, paint and canvas — the fairy tale figments of their fertile imaginations.

ART WORLD

GINA Gallery also seeks — by gathering and displaying worldwide naïve art — to expand the existing art lovers‘ awareness and appreciation of this multifaceted art form, and to introduce the wondrous beauty of this unique, easily-accessible genre to those who have been reluctant (for whatever the reason) to visit art galleries, thereby allowing naïve art, and those who paint it, to assume their proper place in the pantheon of the art world.”

ART WINNER

Last year’s winner of the Grand Prize of the Public 2011 was Stefen Lewis from Tanzania which means he has the honor of designing this year’s poster for the Festival.  This year Museum PASZIN, located in south eastern Poland was invited to submit 100 sculptures dating back from the early 60s.  Also the Museum of Lodz followed suit and presents 50 pieces on the theme of Mary, mother of Jesus.

This year even the best major Taxi companies have gotten behind the festival and are acting as “Ambassadors” handing out cards to the tourists with naive paintings on the back.  This is another ingenious idea by Jacques Dubois and his wonderful team from Fivan, Szyb Wilson Gallery and helpers from Poland and France.  We salute you!

Here is a great quote from Danny Kaye that I love;

“Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxx

If you enjoyed this art blog you may also like this one: 117 Henri Rousseau Naive Artist

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

So let me introduce you to a fabulous emerging artist in the Indie genre, a bit folksy and rootsy with a dash of blues, his name is James Abberley and he reminds me very much of John Butler from The John Butler Trio.

He was born the same year as my daughter Hillivi and grew up in the mid north town of Owen and attended  Balaklava High School, so it has been  very interesting to see his talent take form and start to soar.  James was given his first guitar at the age of 15 and soon learned to love playing and writing his own music.  The above Youtube video images of my paintings with James song was put together by my son Kai.

ARTS IN THE COUNTRY

Balaklava is very good at producing creative people, it is very much nurtured, embraced and valued which I think is perhaps a little unusual for a country town where sports is normally the be all and end all.  Perhaps it stems from that the town was blessed with four dynamic women in Di Spence and Bronny Cottle in the performing art side and Joyce Ross and Jo May to guide the visual arts.

THE ART GALLERY

Not only does Balaklava have their own art gallery “Courthouse Gallery” with monthly exhibitions  and a yearly art competition called the “Balco Awards” but also a theater group called Balaklava Community Arts which puts on major shows every year with a full ensemble which everyone from the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker audition for.

EISTEDDFOD

Then there is of course the Eisteddfod – which is an old Welsh word meaning a “sitting” but now used to describe gatherings of musicians, artists, poets, actors and crafts-people to compete, compare and learn from each other.  The town population swells to twice the normal size every August when the Eisteddfod are on, so for any budding performer eager to take part use the above link.

SO CREATIVE

So with such a rich hot pot of creativity it is no wonder that the area keeps on producing wonderful talent such as James Abberley.  His new album is called “Some kind of Relief” and 2 of my favorite songs are Ghost and I’ll be a Bird, make sure you listen out for the fiddle playing by Richard Tonkin – just sounds so good.

James writes his own music, sings plays drums, didgeridoo and bongos, he collaborated with his sister Amanda on Green Hills and Dollar Bills where she sings backup and recorded both at home in his bedroom and at Fish Shop Studios in Port Adelaide for his debut album.

INSPIRATIONS FROM GOTYE

Gotye who has now gone on to international fame with his song “Someone that I used to know” and Jose Gonzales, Lior and the Butterfly Effect are some of James inspiration, and he finds that he writes mostly from personal experiences, the things he sees around him and of course about Love.

His goals are to play at the Fall’s Festival, Woodford acoustic Festival, Splendor in the Grass and of course Big Day Out and I have no doubt that he will play at all of them and then some!  For now if you would like to see James  live come down to the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, where he has a permanent residency every Friday night.

THE ART BEHIND INDIE MUSIC

Indie music or Independent music is a genre that has it’s roots in the UK and USA, and is extremely diverse with lots of so called sub-genres.  The “Indie artists” at least starts off as “outsiders” to the normal path by being independent and not attached to the major record labels. They do their own thing without bending to any rules or being influenced by contractual obligations of the music industry.     As the internet crept into all of our lives in the early 2000 it was clear that you could actually have a major hit on your hands and enjoy commercial success on your own from the bedroom so to speak, if you had the talent.  The question then to ponder is whether an artist remains an Indie artist after he/she has been signed to a major label which has happened to many, just think of Nirvana for example!  It is a little like the term Outsider Artist and Naive Artists and the problem the academics have of trying to pigeonhole us.

Speaking of birds, lol, James says that his song I’ll be a Bird was written in inspiration of dreams that he would have of flying.  “We all have those dreams so I thought it would be a nice feeling to recreate.  I hope that whoever hears this song can relate.  We would all love to fly” he says.

Here is a quote I like that fits in with both Indie music and James Abberley, by William Blake

“No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and singing,playing or whatever you love to do to you all,

Love Marie xxx    (c)

If you enjoyed this music and art blog here is another you may fancy; 116. Art and Music with Marie

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

]]> https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/111-indie-music-art-and-paintings-with-james-abberley-ill-be-a-bird/feed/ 4 https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/93-picasso-art-naif-and-katowice/ https://mariejonssonharrison.com.au/93-picasso-art-naif-and-katowice/#comments Fri, 29 Jul 2011 03:05:53 +0000 http://www.mariejonssonharrison.com.au/new/?p=2617 NAIVE ART FESTIVAL

One of the most important festivals for Naive art is currently underway in Katowice, Poland where until August 17, you will be able to see more than 190 naive artists from all over the world and 40 of the artists participating are from Cuba this year.   Cuba is this year’s guest country and the Cuban Vice Minister of Culture was in attendance at the opening which was a cultural feast.  The highlight was a 4 piece Cuban band dressed in white suits, hats and black t-shirts with 2 dancers complete with headdress and costumes in yellow and green straight from a carnival.

ARTLINK MAGAZINE

This detail image is from one of my paintings on the cover of an art magazine called Artlink, this addition was dedicated to naive & outsider art, if you look closely there is homage to Picasso there too.  If you would like to see one of my own artworks on show in Katowice here is a link to it and another art blog 73 Snack attack at hungry jacks

MONDIAL D’ART NAIF

Oh I so would have wanted to attend myself – all of us; exhibiting artists were invited to attend and they had even organized a special artist dinner.  The timing wasn’t right for us this year as we are in the middle of renovations and also planning a trip to Europe for next year.  Here is a link to this wonderful exhibition and website Mondial d’art naif

SZYB WILSON ART GALLERY

It is my idea of total bliss to have so many wonderful naive artists work on show in the same place, at the same time, all that wonderful, innocent and colorful work under one roof.  That is so exciting too, the place itself that is housing this exhibition – which is the Szyb Wilson Gallery in Katowice.  It is the largest privately owned gallery in Poland and I think it would be rivaling most private galleries in the world as it offers more than 2000 square meters on two levels and it’s a huge building, 10 minutes away from the city centre in the district of  Nikiszowiec the historical settlement of Katowice. Another fascinating place to have a look at there would be the “Spodek” which means flying saucer in Polish and is a multipurpose arena complex which can hold up to 11,500 people.

The area of Szyb Wilson Gallery was in fact an old coal mine construction, a virtual wasteland of late.   It so happens too that one of the naive artists participating in this festival was a mine worker at this very mine for some 35 years, where now his work hangs on their walls.  His name is Erwin Sowka and he is part of the legendary group Janowska in Poland and he was awarded a special prize at the opening of the show.  (Erwin Sowka is the only surviving member of Janowska – “Amateur Painters Circle” whos origins date back to the 1930’s and there was even a film made about them in Poland called Angelus.)

ART PRIZE WINNERS

Other prize winners were artist Sylvie Marcel from Marseille in France, who won the “people’s vote” during the 2010 festival and was therefore invited to create the poster for this year’s festival, her image was also used for the large banners advertising the show, and she attended and picked up her trophy; Grand Prix du Public 2010.

Another prize awarded was to a sculptor Eugene Zegadlo who has during the last 52 years made nearly 3000 sculptures and exhibited in 20 countries in over 150 separate exhibitions.

JACQUES DUBOIS & NAIVE ART

Of course this naive  art exhibition could never have existed without the hard work of many and it is the French non-profit association Fivan that has organized it in conjunction with the Szyb Wilson Gallery.  They have designed this event to promote naive art and to sell paintings in a festive atmosphere, which is something they have totally achieved.  There are without doubt many people to thank for this wonderful event but I would like to mention one very special man Jacques Dubois who has worked tirelessly and could not have been more accommodating and nicer liaising with all the artists, so Thank you Jac!

Naive art is currently experiencing resurgence in its popularity and there were some 2000 people who attended this year’s opening with many people flying in from across the world.  Naive art has become a status symbol for many professionals and collectors and the waiting rooms of doctors and dentists just are not complete without one.  We can thank the naive artists that paved the way for us current artists,  ones like Henri Rousseau and Grandma Moses and the like and also of course Pablo Picasso who was the one that discovered Henri Rousseau in the first place.

So here is a quote from Pablo Picasso that I think the naive artist has actually mastered;

“Every child is an artist.  The problem is to remain an artist once they grow up” and this one

“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”

However it is perhaps this Picasso quote that will make all of us feel better;

“We don’t grow older we grow riper.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxxx      (c)

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.